Somehow in a relationship
W. Dingdongdang
That day, the beginning of all the incidents happened on the way home after school.
“It’s dark and scary, should I call the piglet at home?”
I pulled out my phone and, with trembling hands, punched in my sister's number one by one on the keypad. Why bother with searching through my contacts instead of just typing the numbers? It was obvious. Why would I save the number of my biological child, born a minute after me? It wouldn't be different if it were my sister. My younger brother, who never does anything for me and always argues with me, asking if I'm his older sister because I was born a minute earlier, what's so great about saving his number?
I pressed the familiar eleven-digit number on the keypad. Still, I had your number memorized.
Rrrr- Rrrr- Rrrr-
“Hey… why aren’t you answering? Are you playing a game?”
It's been almost a minute since the phone rang, but my brother still hasn't answered. "This guy, I'll kill him when I get home."
Rrr-
I was slowly moving my thumb to hang up when the ringing sound suddenly stopped. What the heck, you finally answered? Judging by the fact that I answered just seconds before voicemail appeared, I doubt I was in the middle of a game. You little punk, you were just waiting to tease me?
“Ugh, Yeoju, you’re annoying again. Why aren’t you answering your phone? That’s why.”
As we were talking, it turned out to be a video call. So what? It's nice to be able to see my ungrateful younger sibling who never answers the phone. I thought, "Let me see your face, please." But the screen was completely dark, so I couldn't see anything. Did he not realize it was a video call and just held it to his ear?
"… who are you?"
"Okay, I'm waiting at the crosswalk in front of the academy right now. Come here for me. It's dark, so I'm scared."
Perhaps because he had told her to come pick him up, or perhaps because he had added the third person pronoun at the end of his sentence, his younger brother remained silent.
“……”
“Hello…? Hey, answer me.”
"uh…"
My younger brother… stopped talking nonsense. What the heck, did he just wake up?
"wait a minute,"
What the hell is this kid doing? Why are you using formal language with me? Did he do something wrong to me? It was a series of strange happenings.
"Just a moment," he said, and the screen darkened even further. I was staring at the screen, puzzled, when it suddenly swung back. I thought he'd finally realized it was a video call, and I waited, secretly delighted. Perhaps it was the sudden, bright light that shone through, but the screen went out of focus. And in that brief moment of unfocus, I felt like it wasn't my brother, Kim Do-jun, but someone else. I can't quite put it into words, but it felt like it wasn't Kim Do-jun.
In a matter of seconds, before I could react, my vision came into focus, and only then did a clear face appear. In that moment, I knew something was wrong. And very, very wrong.
The background of the room I'd passed by in a flash was unlike any other part of my house. That's why I was certain the person talking to me on the phone screen wasn't my brother, but some other, lesser man.
“Oh, did you happen to kidnap Kim Do-jun?”
The eyes of the stranger who heard my words grew wider.
"no?"
What kind of embarrassing situation is this?
Headed towards.
The weekend that seemed like it would last forever is over, and it's Monday morning again. I'm back at the school I never wanted to return to.
“Those who know will know, but a transfer student will be coming to our class today.”
During the usual roll call, the teacher clapped his hands as if remembering something he'd forgotten. As if the applause had been some sort of signal, the front door opened as soon as the clapping stopped, and a boy who appeared to be a transfer student came in.
“Hello, I’m transfer student Jeon Jeong-guk.”
Some of the girls in the class whispered to each other that I was handsome. My friend sitting behind me shook my shoulder.
“It’s Jeon Jungkook. Even his name sounds handsome.”
He said that and made a fuss. If it were me, I would have accepted it and reacted along, but I'm not in the mood for that right now.
He was the main character in the video call yesterday.